Archive for January, 2009
« Previous EntriesA Bad Snoring Bambi
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Today I have three Easy Picture Books for a roundup. One Very Cute, one Cute, one not nearly as Cute as I remembered. John Grogan’s Bad Dog, Marley! is a Very Cute children’s book. It’s a story about a very active young puppy who makes horrible messes, tears things to [...]
Review: The Bishop’s Daughter by Tiffany Warren
Submitted by Book Nut
Recently I received several books for review from Miriam at Hachette Book Group. I passed a few on to my book club friend, Elaine, who eats books for lunch! She quickly gobbled up The Bishop’s Daughter by Tiffany Warren, and here is her review.
The Bishop’s Daughter, by Tiffany Warren, tells the story [...]
Library Loot #4
Submitted by Book Nut
This week’s haul: (Okay, so I decided that I was being anal about the surprise factor…)
The roundup is over at A Striped Armchair.
For A/K:
Pig William, Arlene Dubanevich
Liberty!, Allan Drummond
Fin M’Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill, Tomie de Paola
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, James Riordan and Shelley Fowles
Snoring Beauty, Bruce Hale/Illustrated [...]
Without A Doubt, Fish At Your Door
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
I honestly don’t set out to pan books, and since I myself select all of the books that I review, it’s not too often that I give an out and out negative review. But this cookbook roundup is mostly all duds. Lately I’d been having a hankering for “barbecued” shrimp [...]
Guest Post: Author Robin Maxwell Talks About Book Clubs
Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN
It is my pleasure to welcome Robin Maxwell, author of the new historical novel Signora da Vinci, as a guest blogger today! Robin, a veteran of many book club meetings, shares here how book groups keep her on her toes.
The world of book readership has changed dramatically since I started [...]
The Rule of Won
Submitted by Book Nut
by Stefan Petrucha
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Garish.”
Review copy sent to me by Bloomsbury/Walker Books. (Yes, I am branching out and actually reviewing ARCs on my blog. They have to go somewhere…)
Caleb Dunne is a slacker. Self-proclaimed, all he aspires to do is not work very hard. He got suspended for something he didn’t [...]
The Geography of Bliss
Submitted by Book Nut
by Eric Weiner
ages: adult
First sentence: “My bags were packed and my provisions loaded.”
The premise: self-proclaimed grumpy journalist decides to visit happy nations (as determined by the World Database of Happiness that’s kept in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He visits a handful of countries for several weeks, interviewing people and sampling the culture trying [...]
The Underneath
Submitted by Book Nut
by Kathi Appelt
ages: 11+
First sentence: “There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.”
I wrote this back in December, in the middle of the Cybils shortlist discussion, but didn’t post it. I figured it was safe, [...]
Teaser Tuesday, January 27
Submitted by Book Nut
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations [...]
Last Exit To Normal
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
A tip of the hat to Becky, over at Becky’s Book Reviews, whose December review first brought The Last Exit To Normal to my attention. An engaging Young Adult novel by Michael Harmon, Last Exit To Normal is told in the first person by Ben, a high school senior who [...]
I’ve got to read this now
Submitted by Book Nut
The Graveyard Book won this year’s Newbery. Congrats to Neil Gaiman!
Two other shout-outs: Frankie-Landau Banks won a Printz Honor, and Mo Willems got the Geisel Award (again) for Are You Ready to Play Outside? Both made me quite happy…
For a full list of all the awards, visit the ALA webpage, here. (The [...]
Geeky Classics
Submitted by Book Nut
This week’s Weekly Geek asks four questions, two of which I’m supposed to answer. Starting at the beginning…
1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don’t get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have [...]
WSR Challenge Roundup #3
Submitted by Book Nut
This week’s quote was provided by bigsis, from the book Vampire in Moscow by Richard Henrick. She described it this way: “An ancient sarcophagus has been unearthed and sent to Moscow to be studied. There are many interested groups and already, and one-third into the book the characters’ lives are entwined…”
Brother Nicholas, [...]
Captain Alatriste
Submitted by Book Nut
by Aturo Perez-Reverte
ages: adultish
First sentence: “He was not the most honest of pious of men, but he was courageous.”
Call this one the Spanish The Three Musketeers. It’s 1623, Madrid, Spain. Alatriste is a former soldier, who has taken to dueling for hire to keep money in his pockets. He is hired one [...]
Stolen From Facebook
Submitted by Book Nut
Feel free to pass it along…
25 Random Things About Me
1. I like to read.
2. Check that: I love to read.
3. I read on average four books a week.
4. Which breaks down to between 2 and 4 hours a day.
5. I don’t watch much TV anymore. (30 Rock is about it.)
6. And I [...]
Saffy’s Angel
Submitted by Book Nut
by Hilary McKay
ages: 10+
First sentence: “When Saffron was eight, and had at last learned to read, she hunted slowly through the color chart pinned up on the kitchen wall.”
Back in November, when I read and gushed about Forever Rose, I made a resolution: I was going to read all the books about [...]
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Submitted by Book Nut
by Kate DiCamillo
ages: read-aloud, any age. Read alone, ages 7-10
First sentence: “Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a rabbit who was made almost entirely out of china.”
C got this one for Christmas from Santa, and her reaction (which made me laugh), was part “Huh?!” and part “That’s stupid. I [...]
Review: The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN
The School of Essential Ingredients is a lovely new book by Erica Bauermeister. With intimate tables and soft lighting, heavy linens and crystal, glossy hardwood floors and fabulous aromas drifting out of the kitchen, Lillian’s is a place to celebrate, propose, and announce. It’s the kind of restaurant that will surprise and [...]
Library Loot #3
Submitted by Book Nut
I realized something this morning: because of Library Loot, you all know exactly what I’m reading, and it’s just a matter of waiting for me to get around to reading it and putting up the review. Not much mystery or suspense any more…
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I also haven’t [...]
The Leanin’ Dog
Submitted by Book Nut
by K. A. Nuzum
ages: 8-12
First sentence: “I shoved my braids up into my woolen cap, pulled the itchy thing farther down over my ears and crossed to the cabin window.”
Have you ever noticed how prevalent dead/crazy/absent moms are in kids literature? Me either, until I started reading a bunch for the Cybils. [...]
The Way We Work
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Sub-titled “Getting To Know The Amazing Human Body”, David Macaulay’s The Way We Work is an amazing junior science book, published in 2008 by Houghton Mifflin. Macaulay is an award winning children’s book author and illustrator who put years of research into this truly remarkable book. Macaulay’s full color illustrations [...]
Teaser Tuesdays 1-20-09
Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN
Miz B and Teaser Tuesdays asks you to: Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your [...]
Calling All Moms of Bratty Children- HELP!
Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN
I love my children. I’m sure you love your children too. But I don’t always like them. Lately I’ve been wondering at what age you can tell your kid to shut the hell up? Seriously, the mouth on my kid. Ugh.
Over the weekend L. got herself a dish of ice [...]
Teaser Tuesday
Submitted by Book Nut
TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have [...]
Three Cups Of Tea
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Inshallah, which translates literally “as Allah wills it”, is a very
commonly used phrase in Pakistan. And apparently Allah wills that I participate in this year’s 2009 Pierce County Reads Program. We offer up tons and Tons of copies of the selected book at the library and there are a whole [...]
